


Ghosting

by alittleshitwithfeels



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, If You Squint - Freeform, sportarobbie isnt explicit here but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 06:59:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8655169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittleshitwithfeels/pseuds/alittleshitwithfeels
Summary: Hands trembling, Robbie held the mail tube over the delivery tube. One hand clutched the lever in a white knuckle grip, anticipating the drop and fearing it all at once. He could do this. All he had to do was drop one tube into another tube and pull a lever. He already wrote the damn letter; he might as well go ahead and send the thing.
Based vaguely off Mother Mother's Ghosting





	

**Author's Note:**

> my first lazytown fanfic and it is some good ol angst  
> why am i like this

Hands trembling, Robbie held the mail tube over the delivery tube. One hand clutched the lever in a white knuckle grip, anticipating the drop and fearing it all at once. He could do this. All he had to do was drop one tube into another tube and pull a lever. He already wrote the damn letter; he might as well go ahead and send the thing.

He stomach lurched at the thought.

If he sent the letter, then he’d have to commit to… to _leaving_.

Leaving this idyllic (for the most part) little town that had been his home a countless number of years. But it didn’t need him. Didn’t need him wreaking havoc and being a general nuisance; the kids got into enough trouble on their own with him exacerbating the issue.

Robbie’s breath hitched in his throat. Maybe he could just stay. Eat sports candy, exercise, play with the kids, all that nonsense. He could do it. He could….

He shook his head at the thought. No, it wouldn’t work. The one time he tried to help he made everything exponentially worse.

He dropped the letter and pulled the lever.

Letter rocketing into the air, Robbie grabbed his two suitcases and strode decisively toward the bus stop, determined not to get cold feet. (But he could just stay and say the letter was a joke… a trick, another one of his antics….) He would miss this town. Miss the brats. Miss Sportakook. But they didn’t need his antics. They were getting older, smarter; they’d even managed to recognize him in a disguise once. Besides, he only had so many tricks.

He would find another town to harass. New kids. A new…. He supposed there was no other Sportacus. But there was always another town.

“But they weren’t Lazytown.”

 

Sportacus smiled at the mail tube sailing into his airship. With nimble hands, he deftly caught it and twisted open the cap almost in one motion.

Purple paper.  
That was new.

He unrolled the letter and began reading. Even without the purple paper, the terrible penmanship and spelling alone told him Robbie Rotten had sent it. Which made it all the more strange. Robbie couldn’t be leaving Lazytown. That was… that was absurd! And to think he wasn’t needed or even wanted was just as ridiculous!

Why hadn’t his crystal told him Robbie was upset? It lit up like a Christmas tree if the kids were sad or lonely, even if they didn’t quite know they needed help. And he cared about Robbie as much as he cared about the kids!

Sportacus jumped to the door, barking for it to open. He pulled out his telescope with a habitual flourish and searched for Robbie. The letter said Robbie was planning on leaving immediately, but maybe he hadn’t yet. Sportacus worried his lip until he finally laid eyes on Robbie sitting at the bus stop.

“Skychaser!” He shouted taking a running leap off the ledge onto the flying scooter.

He landed a little ways from the bus stop and right in the middle of the kids. Without a word, Sportacus began sprinting toward the bus stop, hoping that he wasn’t too late as he heard a bus screech to a halt.

Trixie dropped her jump rope. “What’s up with him?”

“I don’t know,” Stephanie replied. “But I’m going to find out. C’mon!” With that, she ran to catch up to Sportacus and the kids followed close behind.

 

Robbie was halfway to the bus when he heard the pounding of feet and felt a warm, strong hand gently wrap around his wrist. He whipped around to face the newcomer, yanking his wrist free in the process.

“What do you want, Sportaflop?”

The kids trotted up and stared in confusion at the scene in front of them. A bus idled in the background. Sportacus looked scared, _terrified_ , and even helpless. Last time they had seen him in such a state was when he thought he was sick because Robbie was messing with him. Speaking of, Robbie, for all his bristling, seemed to be on the verge of tears. Or rather, had just begun crying. One tear had already carved a path in his eye make-up.

Robbie cut his watery-eyed glare to the children with groan. “Of course you brought the damn brats!” His voice cracked. Why’d he write Sportacus? Why didn’t he just vanish without a word?

Perhaps he wanted to be stopped.

“Robbie, are you really leaving?” Sportacus asked with an uncharacteristically small voice and his big blue eyes trained on Robbie. Robbie winced. Sportacus looked like a goddamned kicked puppy like that. His chest hurt at the idea of being the one behind that look.

“You’re leaving?” The kids squawked in near unison. Robbie managed to feel even worse. “You can’t!”

His hands clenched around the handles of his luggage and he rounded on the tweens. “I can and am! I need a break from your games and songs and dancing! Forever! For every year you aged, you managed to grow one hundred times louder and more annoying!” Robbie’s voice was choked, the rage forced.

Sportacus fidgeted. “You don’t have to go, Robbie.”

“Yes I do!” Dropping his luggage, Robbie jabbed a finger at Sportacus. “Lazytown would be far better without me in it and you all know it!”

“Lazytown better without Robbie?” Pixel punched a few things into his handheld computer. “Mathematically impossible!”

“Yeah,” Stingy continued. “Lazytown isn’t Lazytown without Robbie Rotten!”

“And why exactly is that?” Robbie countered. “What have I done for you?”

Ziggy bounced, waving a hand in the air. “Oh, oh! You play with us!”

Robbie gawked. “Why I never-!”

Stephanie giggled at Robbie’s indignation. “You played pirates with us! And even buried treasure for us to find.”

Robbie blushed. “W-well, Sportaflop plays with you too! You don’t need both of us.”

“Sportacus doesn’t wear costumes!” Trixie replied.

“And who would we have played against in the Lazytown Cup if you hadn’t shown up, mhm?” Stephanie grinned, very sure of herself. Robbie couldn’t help but admire how smug she could be. “And who would have dressed up as the Purple Knight for the Medieval Festival? You even brought a dragon!”

Sportacus started to smile as he watched Robbie wordlessly process the children’s words. “Of course,” he began, setting a hand on Robbie’s shoulder. “You don’t have to be needed to stay in Lazytown. I, _we_ , want you here.”

The kids nodded enthusiastically.

Robbie blinked. They… wanted him? He rubbed his eyes as if that would keep him from crying. It only served to smudge his eye make-up beyond all recognition. “Thank you,” he choked out around sobs.

Sportacus silently pulled Robbie into a hug and soon the kids wrapped themselves around the two of them.

“So you’ll stay?”

“Of course.”

They all helped Robbie move back in.


End file.
